The hero's struggle
by luigizeldafan
Summary: Set after the calamity is since defeated, Link must battle with his own mental health (PTSD, Depression) and his newly developing, confusing feelings he begins to have towards Zelda who tries her best to help him through the many struggles they have together ... but will love prevail in the end ?
1. Chapter 1

**~ The hero's struggle ~**

Link opens his eyes... heavy like weights pulling him back to the land of z. He struggles, eventually seeing a picture come together of what was Infront of him. A guardian in the distance approaching the castle on the field…

"_**What… why am I here... ?!"**_

He could see he was out on the rich green grassy plains of Hyrule field...

"_**Th-this shouldn't be happening; y-you aren't supposed to be doing this!**_"

Link cried out… he ran hastily to face the once thought to be calm structure that towered over his frail damaged body.

Link tried to grab a guardian arrow and noticed it missing... now panicked as he grabbed what he knew to be his sword and slashed at the guardians long metallic like structured legs and before long it was destroyed…

Link sighed with relief...

Rain began to fall and pierced the hero's forehead with shock of how cold it was to him brought him to the realisation…

_There was no danger… no guardian remains… just him... standing In-front of a tree, holding a branch. _Before Link could fully try to gather his mind on what had just happened his vision began to distort and rotate… the branch slipped from his broken damaged skin …

He felt his stomach lurch, he looked down at his pale arms and torso to see the bloody battered and damaged mess that showed before him… like a lightning strike from -insert name- he came to the realisation that this was his own body, and that he was in need of urgent care…. Before he could act on this... his eyes slipped into the world of darkness once again as he lost consciousness and fell onto the wet grass of Hyrule field …

It was another peaceful night in the land of Hyrule, Zelda thought to herself as she prepared a herbal tea for her hero… her hero? She paused… did she really just think that? she shook away the blush that was starting to surface on her face as she continued to prepare the tea.

"_This should at least help relax his aching muscles..."_

She muttered to the stove as she poured it out and approached Links nurse chambers.

During the war with the calamity there was a section of the castle dedicated to helping injured Hylian soldiers and knights. Once Ganon had not long since fully taken control it was all crumbed to ruin. It has since been rebuilt for the purpose to aid anyone in need of care in Hyrule.

Zelda thought to herself how thankful she was that she had persuaded the other leaders of the many official decisions made in Hyrule one of many projects being Hyrule castle, being such an expensive renovation, this section of the castle deemed unnecessary in their eyes since threat to Hyrule was long since gone.

She shook the thoughts from her mind as she opened the door, trying her best to put on a smile for the brave Hylian knight, who was barley recovering from his wounds at this point.

She had her back turned to his bed as she set down the tea trying her hardest to gather the courage to turn to face the brutal condition he was in.

She gathered a deep sigh and turned in horror her eyes fixated on the empty mattress, with the sheets flung off the side of the bunk hanging in the breeze...

"_**LINK… LINK… WH-WHER- ...GUARDS… !**_"

In a flash 3 Hylian guards where at her side awaiting their orders.

"_Y-yes your highness?"_

Zelda spun to address them in a panicked flurry she screamed

"_**WHERE IS HE WH- WHERE IS LINK!? HE SHOULD STILL BE IN BED-REST WHILE HIS CONDITION IS SO CRITICAL**_"

"_**ANSWER ME!"**_

She retorted in pure anger at the in her eyes, stupid blunder her royal guard had made ...

"_P-princess… he just- he just ran ... shot out of the bed we couldn't stop him he was shouting something- something about guardians coming? u- um – before we knew it, he w-was gone…."_

The guard lowered his head in admission of his failure. Zelda shot out the room before the guards could stop her, her feet gliding down the smooth polished stone staircase.

A small shiver entered her spine as she realised that, she had nothing on her feet, she quickly shook it out of her mind as she threw the castle doors open sending them crashing against the castle interiors with an echoing slam.

In building desperation, she frantically ran onto the thick grass that engulfed the land ...

she was so caught up in her search that she failed to see the large rock hiding behind some Silent Princess that had taken that spot as their home to grow.

She fell flat onto the ground her chin splashing in the nearby puddle of mud.

As she tried to gather her thoughts on what had just happened, she heard a familiar groan off in the distance ... she darted back up in the air... her eyes scanned the plains as she caught her eyes on the sight of the dishevelled blonde hair poking out from beside a tall tree…

It was also then that she came to the realisation that it had also been raining—quite heavily ... her senses now coming back to her.

She felt an Icy chill as a droplet of rain fell from her nose.

Zelda let out a small shiver, she did not care however as she was already running towards the direction she heard the groans come from...

"_**This cursed rain!"**_

She shouted to the empty air...

"_I can't see … i-"_

Just as she was about to continue, she heard the voice calling out again... this time closer.

"_**Link?!"**_

She cried…

"_**LINK?!"**_

"_**LINK… CAN YOU HEAR ME**_"

"_**LINK… LINK YOU SHOULDN'T BE OUT HERE!"**_

"_Especially not in this weather..."_

She mumbled to herself...

Zelda was already near him, she could hear his cries of pain getting closer, her feet now a blur in the unwelcoming cold wet blades of grass.

Zelda collapsed down next to the fallen hero in exhaustion she panted out…

"_Link… please speak to me… tell me you are alright_"

Link responded only with a shivering groan coming slowly out of his shaking lips...

Zelda grabbed her stomach as it twisted in fear, she turned him over carefully not to aggravate any wounds further then they were already at.

"_Link…."_

She gently gave his bruised hands a squeeze as she spoke up in the thick worrying silence in the night air.

"_Link... can you hear me? Please… wake up..."_

Zelda shot up as she heard the sounds of clanking metal footsteps in the distance … she turned to see it was just her royal guard...

she lowered her shoulders realising there was no threat approaching.

Her thoughts were cut short when a guard tall and thin in build approached her cautiously ... still worried about her angered state with some of them earlier, himself being one of them...

The guard spoke out, gathering his courage.

"_**P-princess...! you mustn't be out here! Not like this!**__"_

He spoke with a surprisingly loud booming voice of authority.

Zelda glanced down in confusion, just now realising the full extent of her situation … noticing she was in-fact indecent, only wearing her nightwear.

"_Oh…_."

She mumbled slightly embarrassed ... not for long as she snapped back into focus on the situation that was at hand…

"_**Guards!**__"_

They jumped in surprise at how abrupt she became...

Another guard spoke up this time of quite a larger build then the previous.

"_**Yes!**__ your highness_?"

Zelda looked over to the gathering of royal guard In-front of her, her voice booming over the pouring rain with a sharp tone of authority.

"_**Get Link back in his bed chambers! At once**_**!**"

"…_And please be aware not to further irritate any of his wounds"_

Zelda followed behind the royal guard attempting to wipe the wet blades of grass that seemed to have befriended her night dress.

She stared down at the hero that was being carried In-front of her back inside to the safety of the castle, mumbling to herself, being vigilant to not be overheard

"_My dear Link…_ _**please stay strong!**_"

**~ TO BE CONTINUED ~**


	2. updates on the future of this fiction

**Small update on the future of this story..**

Firstly, I want to apologize for the lack of any content or update... I have been reading fanfictions for over 10 years now so I can understand the frustration of not getting updates.

Besides a bit of writers block, I have been seriously struggling with my mental health, ( I have a condition in the family of PTSD.) and recently have lost my mother, so I havent been focusing on the story at all, I did have the start of the second chapter written on my phone because sometimes I jot down on my notepad app to remember to type up when im away from the computer, but i broke that phone, ha-ha … so yeah…. I can only apologize...

Please be assured that I am going to be continuing to write this story up. Since the first chapter went up it has never left my mind or thoughts once that I need to update it...

Thank you for all your continued patience, reveiws and for reading !


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